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Trending: The Denial Files: 5. ‘We fight climate denial on Wikipedia’

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The Denial Files

20/11/2021 GMT

5. ‘We fight climate denial on Wikipedia’

BBC World Service - Trending, The Denial Files, 5. ‘We fight climate denial on Wikipedia’

Has Wikipedia won its long-running fight against climate change denial and bad science?

Keeping climate change denial off Wikipedia is a constant battle. Who are the volunteer editors fighting to rid the platform of bad science?

At the grand old age of 20, Wikipedia remains one of the world’s most popular websites. The fact that anyone with internet access can edit its pages is a key part of its success. But the website’s openness to the public is also the reason why it has become an unlikely battleground on global warming.
 
Despite the overwhelming body of science proving climate change is real and man-made, deniers are still active on Wikipedia. Whether it is by editing climate pages or spreading conspiracy theories, they have for a long time tried to reframe our understanding of climate change.
 
But a small group of dedicated volunteers is determined to keep them at bay, setting the record straight on the facts and the science behind global warming.
 
In this episode of the Denial Files, we set out to meet some of those volunteers and investigate how vulnerable Wikipedia remains to climate denial today.

Trending: The Denial Files

How disinformation and denial are threatening the fight to prevent climate catastrophe.

Does the battle to prevent catastrophic climate change depend on winning the information war? 

In a special series coinciding with the crucial Cop 26 summit, BBC Trending investigates how disinformation and denial are threatening efforts to combat man-made climate change in different ways around the world. 

The overwhelming weight of global scientific opinion agrees that humanity is at a turning point where only urgent and dramatic action will save the planet from disaster. 

But even as evidence of the dangers mounts up, the push to avert crisis is under attack on a range of fronts. 

This series will explore how vested interests are adopting new tactics to delay, block, or distract attention from what science says needs to be done. And it will examine the role of social media in spreading baseless conspiracy theories that warp debate with potential real life consequences. 

The series will also speak to the scientists and activists who are determined to fight back against the disinformation before it’s too late.

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5. ‘We fight climate denial on Wikipedia’

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